Empress
by kittykatloren
Summary: "Do you miss your dragon?" he asked. She returned without hesitation. "Do you miss your pearl?" Post-Eona Kygo/Eona oneshot.


**A/N:** Because I loved loved loved loved loved Eona, but it ended much too abruptly. My little epilogue/closing-loose-ends slash Eona/Kygo-forever-but-Eona/Ido-was-kinda-hot-too piece. xD

**Words: **1288  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Kygo, Eona  
><strong>Time: <strong>Post-_Eona_  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Romance

**Disclaimer: **Everything you recognize belongs to Alison Goodman, not me.

* * *

><p>All he could see of her was her profile, straight-backed, still, proud. Loose strands of hair escaped her braids and tickled her cheekbones, but they were merely highlighting the beauty of her carved features. Her eyes were out of focus, as if she were staring at things that no one else could see.<p>

"Do you miss your dragon?" he asked.

She returned without hesitation. "Do you miss your pearl?"

Instinctively he touched the smooth skin between his collarbones. "Sometimes I feel as if a part of my soul is missing." He smiled sadly. He knew he was answering for her, as well.

Beside him, Eona nodded. Her hand rested on her knee. In a flowered, beautifully reconstructed courtyard of the Imperial Palace, they were sitting so close, bare breaths away from touching, and yet at this moment Kygo could not bring himself to reach out and grasp her small fingers.

"I have another question for you," he began, forcefully keeping his voice still, controlled. "I ask you… not because I don't trust you. I ask you because I want to know… We share all with one another, do we not? There is an important page in history that will be filled by your answer. And there's a… chasm between us that I want to cross. I need the knowledge, and then I will no longer fear that darkness."

"I will answer, Kygo," she said simply.

Though he was not touching her, he felt such a draw to her that he could not tear his eyes away from her sharp silhouette, her eyes downcast now, her muscles tense. He didn't know the nature of the pull; for the words that simultaneously strained to emerge and bury themselves deep in his heart were terrifying.

"What was between you and Ido?"

The question spilled out in a rush. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists until his fingernails buried themselves deep into his palm. Immediately after he spoke, he watched her face turn away, more loose locks of hair falling and blocking her expression from view. His heart thudded, sank, twisted.

"I hate him," she said at last. "I hate him with all my heart. And because of that, I am all the more guilty. He brought out in me all that which I despise in myself, but which still lingered there, unacknowledged, shoved away, a snake hiding before it strikes."

By leaning forward, Kygo caught sight of her face once more. She had not turned away out of shame or dishonesty. Her lip was caught in between her teeth so hard that it was bleeding. No tears glistened in her eyes, but her voice shook with suppressed emotion.

"I was… blinded by the ideas he espoused. We are all tempted by power. And then… with him… I had that power, and it was intoxicating. Every time I was with him – when I compelled him – it was like drink. It drove away my senses. And at the time, I thought… I felt… The attraction was there, Kygo, I cannot lie to you, but it was not… It was not healthy. It was not happy. It was dark and painful, and it was desire for power… the lust for that which I thought meant everything. I know better now. Please forgive me, Kygo. You should know that every time, even when I was angry with you, my first thought was to protect you. Time spent with Ido was a dark winter compared to the summer that I find with you."

Though she trembled, she still did not cry. She opened herself to him until their gazes met, rather bravely, he realized, her heart laid bare and vulnerable before him. She had given him the truth. As they had promised. At last Kygo reached out, grasped her warm hand; she visibly relaxed. He tightened his other hand in the hair at the nape of her neck, his fingers spread wide behind her head, pulling her face to his till their foreheads met, their noses touched, their breaths mingled.

"Eona."

Her name was hardly a whisper, but it was the answer. With that alone, he prayed she understood his empathy, his forgiveness, for he could not say more; the lure of her lips was too much. They did not need words. He kissed her deeply, their bodies inching closer, life-giving air forsaken for proximity to one another. Slow, gentle, then passionate; he found his hands on her hips and steadily rising.

"Come closer," he whispered, and she complied. She crawled into his lap, twining her legs around his waist, pressing so close…

"Kygo… _Kygo_."

Her head was twisting away from his. It exposed her throat, her precious pale skin…

"I have a question for you, too."

He found her eyes again. They, too, were captivating. "I will answer, Eona."

Light fingers brushed the smooth skin where the Imperial Pearl had once rested. "Do you miss the pearl… because of the pleasure it gave you when I touched it? I… I know nothing of physical love, Kygo." Her cheeks were flushed, but she did not drop her gaze. "I do not know that I will ever be able to make you feel that way again."

She said it blandly, so artless and candid that Kygo smiled.

"No," he said, just as frankly. "The sensation I experienced when you touched the pearl…"

He remembered it, vividly, lightning strikes of pleasure shooting through his body. But despite its totality, it was distant. It was pleasure and pleasure alone.

"It is nothing compared to this," he breathed. He touched her eyes. "Nothing compared to seeing your eyes fixed on me, and me alone, and filled with love." He touched her cheek, her lips. Around him, her embrace tightened. "It is nothing compared to holding you… and knowing, in my mind as well as my heart, that there is no other place that we should be. That we have every right to be together. Every will, every reason to love one another. It is true. It is real. I love you, I desire you, and now, it is one and the same, and it is all the more miraculous… all the more beautiful… because we are together."

This time, she kissed him; her face was higher than his now, positioned as she was in his lap. Her hair slipped and tickled his skin; her arms grew fierce around his shoulders.

"I am glad," she breathed.

Kygo stretched to catch her lips again, feeling her smile there when they touched.  
>"Tell me again," he asked between kisses. "How long is it until we are married?"<p>

"Two days, Kygo," said Eona. "Two days."

It was much too long. Kygo rested his head over her heartbeat, feeling the racing rhythm against his temples. Her hand gently caressed his head, his shoulders, his chest. In the same moment, they both froze, desperate to continue but aware of the constraint. It was a happy dilemma, though. They had each other, with only two days more of delirious anticipation. Regretfully, Kygo let Eona slip out of his arms. He kissed her chastely on the forehead.

"Until then."

She laughed. It was remarkable, really; her cheeks were red, and for all that she was naïve of physical love, he could always tell how fiercely burned her desire. He felt it in her wandering hands, her biting mouth, her rocking hips.

He felt it, too, in the tight grip of her fingers around his. He felt it in the simplicity of sitting together, breathing together, being together.


End file.
